George Young said that nobody would trade for him. And I was able to challenge that statement. He said, “You go try.” I said, “Will you give me permission to go trade him?” So he gives me a letter that said I had permission to go try to trade him. I won’t say he erred, but the fact he gave me that letter to go shop Lawrence Taylor opened a Pandora’s box. I can remember walking around with a copy of the letter on Giants stationery with permission to go shop Lawrence Taylor. It was like a key to opening up a bank vault. Without that letter, nobody would have talked to me.

LT’s instructions were simple: Make me the highest-paid defensive player. So I got on a train and went down to Philadelphia and walked into [then Eagles GM] Harry Gamble’s office, and he couldn’t believe I had the letter. He said, “This is serious.” I said, “This is dead serious.” We began to talk turkey, and somehow it got released to the Philadelphia media; the next day there was a big full-page article about it. I told Harry Gamble that if you make the right offer, the Giants will not match it, and you’ll end up with a bonanza deal and a sellout every week. Harry Gamble was very excited about it.

I also called the Houston Oilers and asked them if they would have any interest and they said absolutely, they sure would. But it would have been a three-way transaction involving Minnesota. The Giants had right of first refusal, and so we got Young’s attention.

LT really began to get antsy – he wanted to play, yet he wanted that money. We just had to go to the wire, where we compromised on the deal. And four days before the Monday-night opener against the Eagles, LT signed.

About Joe

Joe Courrege, President of Car TV Media, Inc. has spent the last three decades developing his systematic program generating high gross profits for dealerships. While successfully representing 100’s of NFL players Joe moved into the car business purchasing his first dealership in the 70’s. This direct knowledge of the car industry gave Joe the blueprint to his successful formula. Joe now works with dealerships to achieve this same success proven in any market condition.
Call us today to have Joe star in your Auto Dealership Commercial.